Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki:Sock puppetry
Sock puppeting is using more than one account in order to violate Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki rules or cause disruption. The user who uses a sock puppet may be called a sock puppeteer. Using sock puppets is usually not encouraged. Using multiple accounts is not always bad. When people use sock puppets, it is recommended that they link to their original account. It will be easier to know the status of an account. Some people feel a Wikian should not have more than one account. Some others feel if sock puppet accounts are used for good purposes, then it is fine (e.g. one creates a sockpuppet to edit on public computers). See this page for information on how sock puppetry affects other online communities. Alternative accounts Inappropriate uses of alternative accounts Alternative accounts should not be used to edit in ways that would be considered improper if done by a single account. Using alternative puppet accounts to split your contributions history means that other editors cannot detect patterns in your contributions, to where it makes it seem as if two different people are editing. "Good hand, bad hand" accounts A bad hand account is one that you would use to make bad edits, such as vandalism while keeping your good hand account clean of any edits that might reflect negatively on you. A good hand account is an account you use to make good edits to the project. It is never acceptable to keep one account "clean", while using another account to engage in disruptive behavior. Evading blocks When you are blocked from this wiki, you must wait through the time you are blocked and try not repeat the behavior that got you blocked in the first place when you return. Some users, especially if indefinitely blocked, may try to bypass this, by making another account. This usually leads to a permanent block of the sock account and an extension of the block on the main account, if not permanent. Legitimate uses of alternative accounts Alternative accounts have legitimate uses. For example, prominent users might create a new account to experience how the community functions for new users. Segregation and security Some editors use alternative accounts to segregate their contributions for various reasons: # Since public computers can have password-stealing trojans or keyloggers installed, users may register an alternative account to prevent the hijacking of their main accounts. Such accounts should be publicly connected to the main account. # Users with a recognized expertise in one field might not wish to associate their contributions to that field with contributions to articles about subjects in which they do not have the same expert standing, or which they consider less weighty. # An editor might use an openly declared alternative account to carry out maintenance tasks in order to simplify the organization of such tasks. Doppelgänger accounts Doppelgänger is a German word for a ghostly double of a living person. In the context of a user account, a doppelgänger account is a second account created with a username similar to one's main account to preemptively prevent impersonation by vandals. Such accounts are permitted and should be redirected to one's own userpage). Doppelgänger accounts should not be used for editing. Clean start under a new name If you have a negative track record and you have decided to make a genuine, clean, and honest new start, and do not wish it to be tarnished by your prior conduct, you can simply discontinue using the old account(s), and create an unconnected new account which becomes the only account you then use, and is used in a good manner. Discontinuing the old account means specifically that the old account is not used for editing ever again. If the old account is later used in addition to a new account after supposedly being discontinued, then it has not been discontinued and would fall under the policy for alternative accounts, above. When an account is discontinued, it is recommended that the old account be noted on its user page as being inactive, in order to prevent the switch being interpreted as an attempt to abusively sock puppet. Repeated switching of accounts is usually seen as a way of avoiding scrutiny and considered as a breach of this policy. This option is also not available to users with permanently blocked accounts, who are prohibited from editing Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki altogether, either anonymously or under any user name. Bots Editors who operate bots have to create separate accounts (and request they be marked as bot accounts by contacting a bureaucrat), so the automated edits can be filtered out of . Signs of sock puppetry Users who abusively use multiple accounts may leave behind these hints that you can detect they're a sockpuppet account. Precocious edit history Frequently, more experienced users will start off as a non-experienced user and slowly build up. If you see a new account created via this wiki and you see that the user is immediately very experienced with the policies of the wiki as well as Wikia features, it may raise your suspicion. It is also worth noting that two accounts that are linked to each other may commonly share the same mistakes in grammar and spelling, or other related issues. Usernames Sometimes, a user abusing multiple accounts will have a similar username style on both accounts, and at other times the username may give away the true identity of the sockmaster. The duck test According to this Wikipedia page, "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck." In other words, for example, if a user vandalizes a page and gets blocked for it, then comes back five minutes later with another account, performing the same type of activity, in exactly the same tone, we can assume it is an obvious sockpuppet and block in consequence. Behavior Sometimes, two accounts may act with similar behavior, such as grammar, and such as with both accounts using edit summaries in a similar style, or pretending to talk to each other such as on their message walls. If they talk to each other and have similar behavioral patterns, it may raise a suspicion. CheckUser This is the easiest method by which you can detect a sockpuppet. You will need to contact Wikia Support with a request asking for a CheckUser check to be done. They will not make an IP check unless you link to a disruption (such as a sock account nominating their sockmaster for a user rights group and voting in favor to create a false consensus), evidence that one account may be a sockpuppet of another, and a link to or the usernames of the two suspected accounts. There is also the option to talk to a local admin CheckUser on this wiki, however this right is difficult to obtain as CheckUser relies on highly confidential and personal information regarding the IP address of the user, and Wikia generally does not grant CheckUser to a user account where the owner is under 18 years of age. You will need to verify that a local CheckUser would be required to be promoted (such as frequent disruption), and that local CheckUser contacting via the Special:Contact form must also be an administrator, otherwise staff will almost certainly deny your request. Checks made out of plain curiosity are considered "fishing", and can result in getting demoted. Category:Policy Category:Help